**This was meant to be published a on January 3rd… Not sure how I missed hitting the publish button!
As the month of December has passed, and the new year has blown in filled with quiet days in quarantine, I cannot stop reflecting on being back in Canada, and finding my place in the changes that need to occur. Where can I help in our country’s growth, and more specifically in education. Things need to change. We need to find a path of reconciliation in education. We need to change the structures of education that we have been following for centuries. How can we ensure our education is reflective of the lands we are on, and of the Indigenous cultures that have been torn from the First Peoples of Canada? How can we ensure our Indigenous students, both in Northern Canada and in Urban areas feel like they are connected and visible in their education journeys?
As I dig into the big picture issues, it’s overwhelming.
It’s heavy.
I am constantly trying to break down the big issues into smaller, more manageable goals. How can I make change in my school community? How can I develop programming to ensure HSC is working towards being a more inclusive and aware school? Bringing all my thoughts together, I have developed the following HMW question…
“How might we, as a school community, connect with Indigenous communities through education to build allyship and do our part in reconciliation?”
So where do we begin?
I guess the first thing that comes to mind is to really explore indigenous cultures around the world. How are these communities celebrating and connecting their Indigenous cultures to the ever changing world around them? How are they celebrating the peoples in which their communities are built on?
When living in Qatar, even though the greatest population is expats, the local Qatari culture and history is built into all forms of life, from cultural events and the names of streets to sporting events and education. Qatar is the wealthiest country in the world, and it thrives on culture and connection. Of course, this comparison is only in part similar to Indigenous Peoples of Canada, because Qataris have not experienced the genocide that Indigenous Canadians have, but we can still learn from the celebratory nature of their country.
As I explore how my previous school in Qatar connected to local culture, it all began with connecting to leaders and members of the local community. It was about bringing them into our school to help educate our students through cultural days, food, and sport.
I think this is a good place to start here in Canada as well. Our school has only one Indigenous family, and I think we can often lean on one family too much. Rather than putting the pressure on those students to act as leaders in our community, we need to take the initiative as an institution. I think we need to start with looking at our school calendar and ensure that we are educating ourselves and our students in reconciliation; we need to ensure these goals become the foundation of our educational institutions.
For me, being new in the school, I would like to start with finding ways that we can connect to Indigenous communities around Canada through education with the goal of creating allyship.
I was hoping to begin this through sport, as I know this would be an attainable goal, and one that would allow us to take the first step towards allyship. It takes away the monetary aspect that happens too often in Independent schools. I do not want to be part of a conversation where collecting donations for indigenous communities is enough.
Really, I want our school to commit to SMART goals throughout the next couple of years in which we provide our students opportunities to learn and to become allies for our Indigenous communities…
As I sit in quarantine, I am trying not to feel overwhelmed by my own hopes for change. Instead, I will let the brainstorming continue…
Thanks for this post, and for your vulnerability @lwelsh. Working with you and others on Saturday, there is no question that we are cautious, and optimistic about this work, and I take a lot from your work to provide me with both 🙂
Check out @amantie and @jadams and @kthibeault as they are working in similar areas.
Thanks and keep going – it’s hard work and definitely worth it.
Garth.
@lwelsh Lindsay, I appreciate your dedication to Indigenous issues and the ongoing need for awareness. I had the fortune of doing a cross Canada road trip this past summer and I made a point of visiting various Indigenous monuments and past residential schools. My disappointment was not with what I saw but rather with what I didn’t see; there was very little recognition or value placed on those sites and even less education. Your HMW question is a noble one and I would encourage you to specify it further in order to tease out how you might begin to move the needle of change, starting within your own school community.